Page 75 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

We went straight back to the old boardroom. Amanda was erasing the whiteboard when we walked in. She looked great. She was wearing another new outfit, this time a short jacket over a dress. I could see the curve of her ass and her legs in stockings. I remembered the sexy stockings she had worn that night and let out a puff of breath.

“Amanda. Good to see you again.” Swanny stepped forward and shook her hand.

She smiled at him and then at me. “Hello, Don. Chris, welcome back. I’m sure you’re happy to be back in the bright lights of downtown Vancouver and not down here.”

I shook my head. “Not necessarily. I really enjoyed my time here.”

She laughed as if I was joking. “Let me just get my mother and Greg.”

“Whoa,” Swanny whispered once Amanda had left the room. “She’s looking a lot better than the last time I saw her. Less like Ellen DeGeneres and more like Portia de Rossi.”

“Is she?” I asked. Of course she looked better, but I didn’t know if everyone could tell. Now that I was so into Amanda, I couldn’t separate her appearance from how good I felt when I was with her. I had missed her so much in the past week. So many times I’d gotten up to walk down to her office with a question or a funny story and realized we weren’t in the same building. And I wasn’t even going to count all the messages and calls I’d made with no response.

But today was the day we could get things settled. Swanny agreed that once we had presented our proposal, I could stay here at the Vice and finish up some projects. In fact, he’d even hinted that I might be the best person to lead the transition of ownership. But would I even want to work here once Amanda was gone?

Then the Richardson family walked in. Jeannie greeted us both and sat at the head of the table, with Amanda and Greg flanking her. Swanny gave his spiel about our long working relationship and talked about the crappy state of the team. I thought he was going on too long about the mistakes they’d made, even if they were under Thomas’s direction. In hockey, players shut down if you focused on the negatives first. Then he laid copies of our proposal in front of each of them.

I watched Amanda reading. Her skin was slightly flushed, and I couldn’t look at her full lips without wanting to kiss her again. Then her eyebrows went up. I checked, and she was on the last page where the financials were. Shit. I knew it wasn’t enough money.

But it was Jeannie who spoke first. “I realize that we are not in a strong negotiating position here, however I am surprised by this offer. It is rather disappointing, especially given the fact that my late husband originally purchased the team as a favour for his good friend—who hasn’t even bothered to attend this meeting.”

Swanny started to explain that Mr. Cooper was in the midst of getting this new mining operation going, but she held up a hand.

“No need to explain. People go to where they have priorities. However, it is our own fault that the offer isn’t competitive. My children convinced me that this was our only option.” Her glance fell upon me, and I felt instantly guilty. I had pushed this deal to the family from the beginning and I hadn’t even been able to deliver a good offer. “However, I think we will have to explore whether there are other organizations or individuals who would be interested in the Vice. I believe that the spectacular mismanagement you pointed out only makes the team more valuable. Everyone will believe that they can do a better job.”

Swanny began to apologize and backpedal. He had been working on the assumption that we were their only option, forgetting how much we wanted the team. “Mrs. Richardson, you can look around, but I think that you’ll find this offer to be a fair one for the team. And we are the partner for the Vice that makes the most sense.”

She nodded. “And we are the AHL partner that makes the most sense for you. I understand that lending players to teams all over North America is not the optimum way to build a better NHL team.” Amanda bit her lip to stop from smiling, and I realized that she had prepped her mother for this meeting. I wasn’t the only one she had schooled on the Vice.

“Thank you for coming in, gentlemen. Do send my regards to Rusty Cooper.” She rose up elegantly and swept out of the room.

Amanda shook her head. “Well, unfortunately we can’t even begin a price negotiation now. If it’s possible, we’ll keep this offer on the table for a week, while we determine our next steps.”

“Sorry, Amanda, but we can’t do that. I’ll leave it open for 24 hours. After that, the offer might actually go down. Can’t you convince your mother to accept it?” Swanny was clearly pissed at the way this supposedly simple deal had fallen through, and he didn’t want to go back to Rhett and Mr. Cooper and deliver the bad news.

She smiled. “Is this always the way you negotiate, Don? We cooperated with you completely up until now. You were able to put Chris in place and discover all our financial and management problems. That’s only fair because you need to know what you’re buying. But to use that against us and offer a price that’s less than half of what the last two AHL franchises sold for—that’s not fair.”

Amanda stood up with all the grace of her mother, and her face was a serene mask. Her utter calmness was scary, because I knew how furious she must be. “I will keep your 24-hour time limit in mind. Excuse me, but I have a lot of unexpected work to do now, so we won’t delay you any longer.”

Then Greg escorted us out to the lobby. He was polite but distant. Clearly the family was a united front when it came to negotiations.

I walked out to the parking lot with Swanny, but I was determined not to leave until I had mended things with Amanda. “Look, I need to finish up a couple of projects here. I’ll meet you back at the office later.”

He scowled. “C’mon, Lucky. You can’t leave me alone when the shit hits the fan. Be back by 4:00pm when I have to meet Rhett.”

I nodded. “Okay, I’ll be there.”

In a moment of inspiration, I saw the bakery across the street. I sprinted over and bought some of the old-fashioned glazed ones. I inhaled the warm vanilla scent of them and then closed the bag.

Back in my office, my destroyed chair had been neatly replaced by one from the boardroom. I gathered up the projects I wanted to show to Amanda and headed to her office.

She was on the phone when I walked in, and her eyes widened in surprise. “Stephen, let me call you back. What’s a good time? Fine.” She replaced the phone in its cradle. “Yes, Chris?”

“Hey. How are you?”

“Fine.”

“I’m sorry about the other day. Maybe I overreacted a little.”

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